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Is the EV Revolution Running Out of Juice?

This is the question I asked in an article I authored on the Plastics Today website. And as I allude to in the piece, it's not an easy question to answer. Challenges are emerging beyond the traditional bugbears of affordability, range, and lack of charging infrastructure. Further, incentives and subsidies can either hinder or favor electric vehicle (EV) affordability depending on how the are implemented and executed.

The article also notes hidden ownership costs for EVs, particularly high repair costs due to the giga-casting (I've also heard the term mega-casting) technology employed by Tesla and others to case large aluminum castings.

Just like for appliances and electronics, Chinese EV makers are coming to dominate the global market for EV production based on a formula of low cost and good, if not superior quality compared with Western OEMs, who are fighting back not by upping their game but with tariffs and other non-tariff barriers such as local content requirement. They claim that Chinese OEMs have had a unfair advantage delivered through cheap loans and government support. I encourage you to read the article in its entirety.


Image courtesy of Rivian

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